Pepin the Short

Pepin "the Short" of Francia (714-24 September 768) was the King of the Franks from 751 to 768, succeeding Childeric III of Francia and preceding Charlemagne and Carloman I of Francia.

Biography
Pepin the Short was born in 714 to Frankish prince Charles Martel and Rotrude of Trier. Pepin was a Christian Frank of the House of Karling (the Carolingians). In 741, after the death of his father, he became Mayor of the Palace of Francia, and he ruled in Neustria, Burgundy, and Provence while his brother Carloman ruled Austrasia, Alemannia, and Thuringia. The brothers fought Bavarians, Aquitanians, Saxons, and the Alemanni, and in 743 they chose Childeric III of Francia to end the Frankish interregnum that followed Charles Martel's death. When Carloman retired to religious life in 747, Pepin became the sole ruler of the Franks and suppressed his half-brother Grifo's revolt. In 751 he forced Childeric into a monastery and Pope Zachary made him king of the Franks in 751. He put down more rebellions by Mayor of the Palace Drogo (Carloman's son) and another rebellion by Grifo, and he supported Pope Stephen II against the Lombards of northern Italy. He secured several cities in Italy and made the Donation of Pepin, which transformed the papacy into the "Papal States", effectively a country ruled by the pope.

Pepin launched wars of expansion in his reign, conquering Septimania on the southern French shore from the Umayyad Caliphate. He also forced Waiofar of Aquitaine and his Basque troops to pledge allegiance to the Franks, but the Saxons and Bavarians made relentless rebellions against him. He campaigned tirelessly in Germany, and by the time he died in 768, there were still Germanic pagan rebellions. His son Charlemagne would go on to surpass his father and conquer Europe up to the Elbe to the east and the Pyrenees to the south.